British backpackers tell of ordeal at the hands of Brazilian robbers armed with grenades

A group of British backpackers today told of the horrifying moment they were held hostage in Brazil by violent robbers armed with hand grenades.

The seven gap-year students, aged 18 and 19, were among 34 tourists who were held for several hours in a hostel in Rio de Janeiro.

They were tied up by the gang who were wielding knives, guns and the grenades and had their money, cameras, iPods and mobile phones stolen.

Terror: Dorset students (left to right) Beanie Isle, Rollo Skinner, Ben Mace and Bertie Herrtage were attacked on just the second day of their trip

The robbers, who beat up some of the hostages, eventually made off with the belongings, leaving their victims to struggle free before raising the alarm.

The ordeal happened as the teenagers, who were all educated at a top public school, were sleeping at the Samba Villa hostel in the Lapa area of the city.

They were visiting the city's famous carnival and were just two days into a five-month gap-year trip around the world when the raid happened.

Ben Mace, Bertie Herrtage, Rollo Skinner, Beanie Isle, Louis da Costa, Rowley Thompson and Kit Regan left £24,000-a-year Sherborne School in Dorset last summer and went travelling before going off to university in the autumn.

Ben, 18, of Buckland Newton, Dorset, told his mother Isobel about their ordeal in a phone call over the internet which started with the words 'don't freak mum, but...' Ben relived the moment he was held at gunpoint.

Safe now: Ben Mace and Bertie Herrtage

He said: 'I went downstairs to the lobby of the hostel and just got ambushed by a man and another man with a gun, which we were being pointed at with.

'We had to sit down with a girl who had already been taken hostage.

'We were tied up by our hands and feet. More people were taken hostage and they started taking control of the hostel.

'We were all in this really small room in the hostel with about 6 beds or so, being held at gun point. One of the women had been gagged and they tied her head to the bed.

'As we were in the room they ran around the hostel taking all the valuables.

'I was actually just hoping no-one else would try and do anything stupid really and try to be a hero.

'The whole of yesterday we were just shocked. It's all we could think about and talk about. It's a pretty big thing to happen.'

Rollo, 18, also from Dorset, described how he was woken by men slapping him around the face and demanding money.

He said: 'I didn't see a grenade but there was a guy in the room next to us, who was woken up by a grenade in his face and they said "boom boom" to him, and asked him to give his camera, iPod money etc. It was pretty scary.

'We were there for about an hour-and-a-half, and then they went through our rooms with knives cutting open all the bags, breaking off all the locks, taking all the cameras, all the phones, iPods and all the money. But they left us with our passports.

'It was pretty freaky but I didn't feel they were properly going to hurt people though they did knock people around a bit.'

Bertie Herrtage, 18, from Chilton Cantelo, near Yeovil, Somerset, said: 'I just thought they were just guys off the street, but then they had guns.

'They asked me to tie up my friend Rollo with tape, and then they tied me up with tape.

'We stood in the corridor for a bit looking at our feet whilst they rounded everyone else up, and then we all got filed into an empty dorm, and we were locked in there.

'Everyone was tied up.'

Ben's mother Isobel said she was shocked when her son told her about the robbery.

She said: 'I have been checking Ben's emails since he has been away and I saw I had a call from Ben on the computer.